Leaning back, Lia sighed. “When I left home, I left everyone behind. Including Julie. It was selfish and I didn’t stop to think how my actions would affect my friends. I just wanted to get the hell out, to give Nate a chance to be who he was supposed to be.”

I nodded. I’d heard it a hundred times before. But Nate and Lia’s story had already been told. This was Mike’s.

“Mike did what any good friend does—he forgave me, and went out of his way to be included in my life. Julie never let it go, though, and until my wedding, refused to see me. She even forbid Mikey from introducing me to the kids.” Lia shrugged. “All understandable, on some level, I guess. What I can’t forgive is how she treated Mike. Has he told you about Jake?”

“That he wasn’t planned?”

“Ha!” She snorted sarcastically. “That’s the understatement of the century. Julie got pregnant on purpose. She stopped taking birth control and never told him. Mike was her ticket out of town.”

“How can you be sure, though? Accidents happen, Lia. Most of the time, even if it is an accident, the girl gets blamed.” Not that I was sticking up for Julie, because I wasn’t. I just knew a little something about being accused of getting pregnant intentionally.

“I absolutely agree.” Lia nodded. “I think if two people are dumb enough to have sex without a condom in today’s world, they’re both to blame for whatever happens. We know she did it on purpose because after Mike’s accident, when he was at his lowest, Jules came clean and spilled all of her dirty little secrets. Including the fact that she wished he’d died overseas because she hated him and didn’t want to be tied to him any longer.” Lia narrowed her eyes. “I was serious when I said I hate her.”

I knew the shock showed on my face. “What? Why would she say that?”

“She blames Mike for the way her life turned out. When he came back, he was”—she paused, frowning as she searched for the right word—“needy. He didn’t remember conversations that he’d had even an hour before, let alone the month before. So the things they’d said seven months prior were completely gone. She was angry. She had just started to build the life she’d always wanted, one that didn’t include an injured vet, and she did not want to have to take care of him on top of two kids. Plus, Mike wasn’t Mike anymore; he was a broken shell of the man he’d been. That didn’t change the fact that he’d been the person who, just before he’d left for deployment, had been cruel and threatened to take her son away from her.”

“He was going to take Jake?” My heart ached for him as I started to piece the puzzle together. “Because of Janet.”

Lia nodded, staring at her plate. “He said Julie stole his child, so he was going to take hers. They had a horrible fight, but I don’t think he meant anything he’d said. He was just reacting to news no parent wants to hear. That was his little girl, and the woman he trusted had deceived him. For years. What kind of woman takes a baby away from a loving dad?”

I froze, my heart pounding fast. This conversation was hitting way too close to home. My stomach clenched, threatening to rebel against the breakfast I’d already eaten.

“It’s so complicated.” Lia paused, twisting her lips into a frown. “I have to remind myself that teenage Julie was a lost kid who wanted Mike to rescue her and show her the world. When she thought he was going to leave without her, she got pregnant with Jake so he wouldn’t leave her. But their marriage wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was pretty messy. Adult Julie thought that if she got pregnant again, and he got to experience it with her, that baby would magically fix all their problems and that Mike would love her. That backfired, too. Mike loves his kids.” Lia swallowed loudly. “Those kids,” she corrected. “Mike loves those kids more than life itself, but he never loved Jules. At least not the way she wanted him to.”

“The way he loved you.”

Lia snorted and waved her hand. “Please.”

“I’m serious, Lee. How can you be the only person in the world who doesn’t see it? Mike Carson is head over heels in love.”

Lia held up a finger. “Jesus, you sound just like Nate.” She sighed. “You’re wrong, Mols. Mike thought he loved me because Julie was the only other person he had to compare his feelings to.” I shook my head angrily, but Lia continued. “When that’s all you know, a relationship built on secrets and lies, it’s easy to cling to the good things in your life. Mike and I have a history. A messy, complicated, but great history. Sometimes those lines can get a little blurry. But he doesn’t love me, Molly.”

“Mike sees it very differently.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized how jealous I sounded.

Lia only chuckled. “Does he?” She leaned back, watching me closely for a minute. “Let me ask you something—if you were to walk in on me and Mike kissing, how would that make you feel?”

I stared at her, not sure what to say. I felt the heat flood my cheeks as embarrassment and anger combined. Just the thought of his lips on hers disgusted me and made me insanely jealous. She already had a man—a decent, loyal, kind, loving husband. She didn’t need mine. My heart was pounding and I could barely breathe, but I answered as honestly as I could. “I’d be pissed.”

“And heartbroken and devastated. And probably homicidal.” Lia offered me a kind smile. “Now, take a moment to think about what it would be like to live with Mike and me for months, watching us kiss whenever we want, seeing us laugh and joke together, and knowing that every night, he was going to be in my room, not yours.”

“I couldn’t do it.” I interrupted, not wanting to hear another word. “It would kill me.”

“Exactly!” Lia pointed at me, beaming. “And you two just started your…well, whatever it is. I have loved Mike for as long as I can remember, and he’ll probably say the same. A love that best friends share. That’s it. If it were anything more, he wouldn’t be able to be here on the tour. He wouldn’t be able to watch Nate and me—day in, day out—and still be here.”

“That’s why he left, Lia. Because he couldn’t handle it.”

She shook her head. “No. He left because he is in love with the idea of me. I’m the friend who has always been there. The only person who has always been there.” She shrugged. “I love Nate, with every fiber of my being. If I had to watch him kiss another woman, to laugh with another woman the way he laughs with me…” Her voice broke and she looked away. “It would destroy me. It would cause me physical pain.”

I understood exactly what she meant.

She turned back to me. “It’s not a pain you can hide. You don’t have that pain when you look at Nate and me, which is how I knew you weren’t in love with my husband. Mike doesn’t have that pain in his eyes when he looks at me. That’s how I know he isn’t in love with me.”

I shook my head, not sure what to say.

“There is a look that’s a dead giveaway. Julie had it every time she looked at Mike. And Mike? He has it every time he watches you on stage. So, you’re right—I think Mike is head over heels in love right now. With you. He just doesn’t know it.”

My egg-filled fork paused halfway to my mouth as I gaped at her. When I was able to gather my wits, I shook my head. “Do you have any idea how nuts you sound right now?”

She only shrugged smugly, taking a bite of her own food.

“We’ve had sex a few times, that’s it. I’d like to think that my pussy is magical, but let’s face it. It’s not made out of gold.”

She choked on her toast, coughing and sputtering.

“Crazy talk aside, what’s going on with Mike and Julie?”

“Nothing that I know of. Why?”

“She called this morning. We’d just gotten back to the room. He talked to her, yelled, and then went to bed without me.”

As I spoke, her eyes narrowed further and further. “Fucking bitch.” Twisting her lips, she sighed. “What did he say about it?”